In the heat of a Washington summer, and the heat of debate, you may have forgotten something. I know how the deference of aides, the eagerness with which newsmen cluster around to hear your words, and the regal surroundings of the capitol can lead members of Congress to feel that they are something pretty special. It is easy to feel like something of a chosen elite; but you must remember that you are our servants, responsible to all of us, not just to the organizations who sent you the most campaign funds.

That alone may count for a good portion of your terrible approval rating, the worst approval rating that has ever been measured for any organization as long as Gallup has been measuring. 12%. Only half of that — 6% approve of Congress “a great deal”. Whew!

What you have forgotten is that all those public lands that Americans want opened to oil exploration don’t belong to you. They belong to American taxpayers. As does any oil that is found. 75% of Americans oppose the ban on offshore drilling.

Well, you’re off for a Fourth of July vacation. Have a nice time, enjoy the fireworks, and perhaps…listen to your constituents.

We posted this piece previously, but we have talked a lot about just where the blame lies for our current problems at the pump. The facts are worth revisiting.

For decades, the Democratic Party has put one source of petroleum after another off-limits to drilling, thus driving up the cost of petroleum and the price of gas at the pump. Oddly, people don’t seem to understand the connections, and have not put political pressure on Democrats in Congress. Nor do they seem to recognize how different the policies of the two parties are.

Congressman Roy Blunt put together these data to highlight the differences between House Republicans and House Democrats on energy policy. Power Line made them available for the rest of us:

But not only is Obama losing ground to McCain, he has lost the Iraq issue, with voters trusting McCain more to deal with it best, and McCain leads Obama by 20 points when voters are asked who will best protect the country.

As Ed Morrissey at Hot air notes, the more people see of Obama, the less they seem to like him.